speakers up to £1,000

hello all - first post here

I'm considering new speakers to upgrade some old mission 734's ... will be partnered with arcam kit - A85 amp and cd73 CD player

we listen to broad range of music - classical, choral, rock pop, some jazz - particular emphasis on vocals is common theme

looking for speakers that offer clarity of treble / mid range, tight bass, don't mind a little warmth in the mid range - in fact everything my old speakers are not ....

have been considering auditioning castle conway 3, qed 22l - views on these and other suggestions welcome.

thanks

 

What size is your room?

 

The room is about 12 foot wide by 22 foot long. Currently site the speakers at one end.

 

IMHO you need to be careful here.

Partnering 1,000 speakers with a budget amplifier can often mean they are not being driven properly.

I'd go for something easy to drive, preferably second hand.. mission 752/753, ruark talsiman II, Linn Keleigh etc - should be able to get such a floorstander second hand for about 250-400... they would all work with the amp you have, but if you spend the rest (if you want to) on a more powerful amp you will get the most from them....

Chris

 

ATC SCM-12 @ £999, with an eye to upgrading the amp next. The newer range of ATCs actually aren't that hard to drive (certainly a lot more forgiving than traditional ATC passives), but they still like a meaty amp in the end.

Another top notch option is the Leema Xen, again at £999. Teeny tiny mini-monitors that sound stunning.

Will you consider buying secondhand? You can get some real bargains if you're up for it...

Dunc

 

I would also add some sonus faber concerto homes to the list,or if you can find some second hand signums,concerto homes are £900 odd new,and really excel at vocals,jazz,and acoustic music,the trebles not the best in the world,and have never heard them on Arcam amplification,but definately worth a look.

 

Your A85 would be well up to the task of driving Castle Conway 3's to considerable levels and they won't fail to put a smile on your face. Smooth, particularly well balanced for rock, great with techno/dance, good at most things really. A little on the warm side of neutral but that's no bad thing really. Oh, and they look great too

http://www.castle.uk.com/pages/classic_conway.htm

The ATC SCM12's need some serious grunt behind them. Anything less than 150 Watts need not apply. I found them a bit slow sounding. Not very involving to my ears.

 

Just grow your hair long at the back and have it cut short on the top and at the sides.

 

Meadowlarks might be worth a punt too.

I have my kestrel hotrods (rrp £1500, available for rather less) running off budget amplification (£270 rrp Rotel RA-971mkII) and this works better than you might credit, with the strengths of the speakers showing well. Equally, I'm sure that they'd be much happier off a much heftier, better amplifier.

Meadowlarks are FAST, punchy and great fun. They need a long time to run in from new (300 hours +), and the difference it makes is astounding.

 

Blimey. An Arcam A85 is a budget amplifier now?

I bought a pair of Quad 22Ls recently (list price £900 though I got £150ish off that) and am very happy with them - very clear, neutral and accurate (and high SWMBO approval factor ), although rockers have been known to deem them "a bit boring" - maybe they'd come across as a bit lifeless on the end of Arcam kit though. Second-hand alternatives at around £800-£1000 would include PMC FB1s and Monitor Audio GR20's - those were the speakers I fancied but decided I couldn't quite afford.

 

IMO, if this is what you want, you really ought to be looking at ProAc too. A s/h pair of studio 125s or response D15s would fit the bill nicely.

As TB says, castle would be good too.

 

Thanks for the interesting suggestions.

Bottleneck / Chris : I wouldn't class the A85 (£750) as being a budget amplifier, but perhaps I'm just being sensitive.

Dunkyboy - I'll look into the ATC's - although someone else mentions they need 150 watts - which the A85 hasn't got.

Hadn't thought of second hand - I suppose I worry about damaged / over-used drive units etc and like to have manufacturer's guarantees (for what they are worth) - but I'm sure many of you have bought second-hand successfully, so I'll look into it - any tips for avoiding pitfalls ?

Thanks again

 

Buying s/h is no problem really, just have a good listen before you buy and make sure there are no obvious problems. There is usually loads of stuff available s/h and most of it in vgc as many people change hifi kit like their underpants, so you can often pick up virtually new kit for way under the retail price.

IMO s/h is the only way to buy as if you dont get on with something, you can offload it for the same price you paid for it, or if you are canny, at a small profit.

I would say that Arcam amps and ATCs would be a bad idea. irrespective of whether the amps have enough power, I dont think their respective characters complement each other. A warmer sounding speaker would be better IMO.

 

I have some Jamo concert 8s, cherry, boxed, excellent, looking around £610 pm if interested, they are really good

 

noones suggested Mission 783s yet? Easy to drive, SWMBO friendly and have a family Mission sound that you've clearly been happy with for 7 years or so.

It'd be silly paying more than £600 for them now, as they're discontinued, but as they were £1000 new I make that a pretty good buy. They sound ok but check positioning as the side firing woofers need room.

Concert 8s are fabulous as well-more refined than the Missions, not as much bass as you might expect, given that they're standmounts...Great stereo imaging

Good luck

 

I wasn't impressed with the Mission 78 series. They sound nice up to a point but the 780SE's showed severe chuffing problems from the port on very low bass and also had rattles and buzzes from somewhere inside the box. The whole range also suffers from a grille design that seems to have been deliberately conceived to damage the veneer on the front baffle so that they look really tatty with the grilles off. The 77 series were great but Mission lost the quality plot with the 78 series I'm afraid.

 

What about Epos M15.2?

 

I've heard them sound gorgeous powered by a low-power valve amp (not low power by valve standards, but certainly low-power by ATC standards - like 30wpc I think), as long as you don't crank 'em too loud. They sounded really good off a Classé CA-100, which is a good, muscly 100wpc power amp (incidentally it sounded horrible, rough and bright driving a pair of JM Lab Electra 905s, but it loved the ATCs).

I'm still not sure what people mean when they refer to a bit of kit being "slow", but I don't think I would ever call the ATCs it... The only downside I heard when I auditioned them was a slight box colouration (well, they sounded more "boxy" than the tanklike Active 10s and Active 20s, so that's probably not saying much.. ) Other than that, I found them to be very smooth, detailed (proper detail, not "hifi" excessive treble detail), clean, and dynamic, with excellent midrange and wonderfully strong, clean bass. I would even say they're slightly warm-and-friendly sounding (compared to the clean, neutral ruthlessness of ATC actives, anyway), though I suppose that may have had more to do with the Classé than the ATCs.

As for the ATCs not being a good match for Arcam, well I haven't heard the combo but I would think the slightly warm, smooth, "safe" sound of Arcam would work quite well with the clean, revealing nature of the ATCs. Bright, forward, or harsh equipment tends to sound awful on ATCs, but the Arcam should sound very pleasant (if not the last word in excitement..?)

Dunc

 

My 782s have a slightly woody character to it, which I feel comes down to box colouration. There's quite a lot of sound from the box itself, even though Mission apparently use some complex transverse fold thingy inside (I think). Plus the bass is ploddy and indistinct.

Nowadays everytime I put it up against another speaker in dems it gets slaughtered. My wife keeps having a go at me for buying them...

 

The last time I heard Arcams they were anything but warm smooth and safe........... more like cold, hard and bright

I'll stand by my view that ATCs and arcams will not be a match made in heavan.